Coin: “What is a Coin? Coin is a connected device that can hold and behave like the cards you already carry. Coin works with your debit cards, credit cards, gift cards, loyalty cards and membership cards. Instead of carrying several cards you carry one Coin. Multiple accounts and information all in one place. – How do I get my cards onto a Coin? Our mobile app will allow you to add, manage and sync the cards that you choose to store on your Coin. The process of adding card information to the mobile app is very simple and is done by taking a picture or two and swiping your Coin through a small device we provide you with. – How much does a Coin cost? Each Coin costs $100. For you early adopters there is a very limited quantity that can be purchased for $50.”

TC: “We are, I believe, in an interstitial zone when it comes to payments. Credit cards are still king – just ask Square – and NFC is just a dream in most countries. That’s why Coin is so interesting. It’s a credit-card-sized device that holds other credit cards, allowing you to swap from card to card and even store gift cards inside its ultra-thin innards. – The company planned a pre-order campaign that would top out at $50,000. They blew past that goal in 40 minutes today, a testament to the desire for folks to leave their plastic at home.”

MA: “With so much energy spent towards turning smartphones into digital wallets, Coin’s idea seems a bit like a throwback, or at least a stopgap solution until those initiatives go mainstream. (Coin’s debut coincided with the U.S. launch of Isis, a mobile wallet initiative backed by AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile.) Assuming the traditional wallet sticks around for a while, though, Coin might carve its own niche, especially if it can somehow incorporate drivers’ licenses, tickets and library cards, among other stubbornly analog forms of ID.”

ATD: “The company raised a seed round for prototyping from K9 Ventures, Sherpa Ventures, and a handful of angel investors. And today it is launching a crowdfunding campaign on its own site to raise at least $50,000 to start manufacturing, with the goal of shipping next summer. It won’t say how much it raised in seed funding, perhaps because that number would hurt its crowdfunding campaign. The device will retail for $100, with crowdfunding contributors getting it for $50. – In the end, maybe business owners will freak out and refuse to accept the card for some reason. Maybe there aren’t enough people who have the big-wallet problem that I do. Or maybe this is indeed the future of in-store payments. – Whatever the case, I’d start using it tomorrow if I could.”

GO: “Though Coin has seed funding, as a hardware company it still needs to raise funds for manufacturing, Parashar said. It’s launching the product with crowdfunding, hoping to raise $50,000, though it’s not taking to Kickstarter or Indiegogo. Instead it’s taking pre-orders for the device on its website. The first backers will get the device for $50, though it will retail for $100, Parashar said. He expects the first shipments will go to buyers next summer. – I’ll give Parashar credit. Coin’s a novel concept. Unlike other mobile payments companies Coin’s not trying to replace the leather wallet with a digital one. But it’s trying to make that physical wallet a lot less bulky.”

VB: “Coin reminds me of the Card 2.0 from Dynamics, a company which offers similar technology for holding multiple cards in a single card. But while Dynamics has gone on to form partnerships with big payments companies, Coin is directly targeting consumers. – Coin is based in San Francisco and has raised funds from Y Combinator and K9 Ventures. The company plans to announce a new funding round soon.”

TNW: “In short, this is a card to replace all of your cards. Until mobile payment apps are truly commonplace across the world, Coin seems like the best alternative. It’s similar to the Wallaby Card, although Coin gives you greater control over which credit, debit, or gift card you’re using at any given moment. If it means we can finally leave our wallet or purse at home, we’re certainly interested.“

Google: “In May we announced Google Wallet – an app that makes your phone your wallet – with Citi, MasterCard, Sprint and First Data. With Google Wallet, you can tap, pay and save using your phone and near field communication (NFC). – We’ve been testing it extensively, and today we’re releasing the first version of the app to Sprint. That means we’re beginning to roll out Google Wallet to all Sprint Nexus S 4G phones through an over-the-air update – just look for the ‘Wallet’ app. … Google Wallet enables you to pay with your Citi MasterCard credit card and the Google Prepaid Card, which can be funded with any of your existing plastic credit cards. As a thanks to early adopters, we’re adding a $10 free bonus to the Google Prepaid Card if you set it up in Google Wallet before the end of the year.”

Google: “Google Wallet is a mobile app that will make your phone your wallet. It stores virtual versions of your existing plastic cards on your phone, along with your coupons, and eventually, loyalty and gift cards. Our intention is that Google Wallet will be an open mobile wallet holding all the cards and coupons you keep in your leather wallet today. … NFC is a wireless technology that enables data transmission between two objects when they are brought within a few inches of each other. Smartphones enabled with NFC technology can exchange data with other NFC enabled devices or read information from smart tags embedded in posters, stickers, and other products. … Google Checkout is a service that enables merchants to accept and process online payments. Google Wallet, on the other hand, is a mobile app that enables users to tap and pay at physical, brick and mortar stores. … The Google Prepaid Card allows you to use Google Wallet even if you don’t have an eligible Citi MasterCard. It is a virtual card powered by MasterCard and Money Network. You can fund this prepaid card with any of your existing plastic credit cards. And since it’s purely virtual, you won’t get a physical plastic card in the mail. You can tap and pay immediately after funds are added.”

TC: “Bummed by the limited launch? Don’t be. This somewhat-cautious approach is really the only way they could do it: NFC is still a relatively new technology, with a complicated network of partners, and, most importantly, involves your money. Google is really the first company with the power to move the world towards NFC – but even for them, it’s going to be something of an uphill battle, and they’ll have to take things one small step at a time. – Fortunately, Google also just announced their next (small step) huge leap: support for Visa, Discover, and American Express cards.”

pC: “For the moment, Google Offers is only available in cities in the U.S. That means the purchase of the Daily Deal site could give Google an easy route to ramping up the service in Europe as well. … In May, when Wallet and Offers were announced by Stephanie Tilenius, Google’s VP of commerce, she described how Wallet would be about more than just payments, and would also be used for loyalty programs, check-ins and other transactions. … Google is not the only one working in these areas: on the deals front it is already competing against dominant Groupon, big LivingSocial, and fast-rising Amazon, among many others.”

Facebook: “Our goal with Facebook Credits is to give people that use Facebook an easy, convenient and trusted way to buy premium items in games and applications, while creating unique opportunities for developers to build successful, sustainable businesses. … We’ve seen a great demand for Facebook Credits since we started testing in May 2009 and expanded the beta in February this year. Facebook Credits are now used in more than 200 games and applications on Facebook from more than 75 developers. … We’ve been listening and working closely with developers to build out Facebook Credits. In addition to offering payments in 15 currencies, we’re introducing new ways to earn and pay for Credits, such as MOL points in Asia and gift cards through Target in the U.S.”

VB: “Facebook has teamed up with social monetization firm PlaySpan to expand its reach to more users around the globe for its Facebook Credits virtual currency. … Now, beyond using credit cards, users will be able to choose from 20 new payment options via PlaySpan’s Ultimate Pay service, allowing for more international purchases. Since credit cards aren’t used in every country, PlaySpan offers more payment options that are used in certain regions. That expands the reach of Facebook games – and the ability to make money from them through credits purchases – to a wider audience. – The PlaySpan payment options will roll out in the coming months, supplementing current payment systems such as credit cards, mobile phone payment services, and PayPal. Through Ultimate Pay, some of the new options include prepaid cards such as PaySafeCard, Wallie-card in Europe, MyCard and Gash cards in Taiwan, and other regional payment services.”

IF: “Deb Liu, a product marketing manager for Facebook Credits, said that a universal currency will encourage users to spend more on digital goods because they won’t have to switch between different currencies offered by separate games. – ‘Users don’t want to go in one game and question buying currency because they have to think about it for the next one,’ she said at the Virtual Goods Summit in San Francisco. ‘That’s a tax on our ecosystem, in terms of the mental energy needed to make a purchase.‘”

AF: “The additional payment options make it easier for developers to expand their international reach and attract a broader set of people, since not everyone has access to credit or debit cards or PayPal. Developers using Facebook Credits won’t have to do anything to offer these new payment options – they’ll appear automatically based on the user’s location. – Facebook did not say whether the upgrade meant Credits are now out of Beta development, but it’s clear that this is an area of focus for the company. Facebook gets a 30% share of the revenue from Credits and with the explosive popularity of social games on the site, it’s an attractive and growing new source of revenue. Facebook has reportedly been exerting pressure on game developers to switch to Credits and recently the biggest player in the sector, Zynga, agreed to do so.”

GigaOM: “The big selling point of the program is that users now have one consistent and unified place to buy virtual currency for almost all social games, which means many of them will have Credits on hand next time a game asks them to pay for something. Liu said developers across the board are seeing 5 to 10 times the number of conversion rates for players who have already bought and stored credits. She said more than half of today’s Facebook game experiences now include Facebook Credits as an option.”

TC: “MySpace has the potential to make some cash from this partnership. Credit card companies pay businesses referral fees for signing up new cardholders and with MySpace’s 75-million-plus U.S. members, this could turn into a viable monetization plan if this is part of the agreement between Citi and MySpace (MySpace wouldn’t comment on the financial terms of the Citi partnership).”

RWW: “This is MySpace, though. It’s got a lot going for it, but a ‘responsibility based’ MySpace credit card sounds like an Octuplet Mom co-branded condom to us. This just seems too far afield from the brand that made MySpace what it is and we expect the credit cards to be something that more people make jokes about than use.”

Mashable: “This is a no-brainer for MySpace, as all they really need to do is supply their brand and collect referral fees from Citi. Of course, Citi might not be the best bank to be affiliated with at the moment, but for MySpace’s younger users who likely don’t have a long credit history, the card could be an attractive option for obtaining a bit of spending money. It’s also something I can’t see going over well with Facebook or Twitter users, but for MySpace, it’s money in the bank.“